Navy Modifies Ships For Women

Crews To Be Mixed On Combat Vessels

WASHINGTON — What changes will women aboard combat ships bring? Privacy walls to shield their walk from shower to berth. Reshaped life vests. And the probable downsizing of heavy hatches.

As the military prepares to allow women to serve aboard warships, architects are preparing Navy vessels for their arrival, perhaps as early as next spring. Congress ordered the change, effective Oct. 1.

Pentagon blueprints, long and skinny like the ships they depict, show the modifications being made to accommodate women, who now serve only on tankers and other support ships.

``When we put women aboard a ship, we have to make sure that both the men and women's spaces are private,'' said Mike Dropik, a Navy architect. ``We don't want them to have to wear a towel through a general access area to get to their sanitary space (bathrooms).''

But that's just a fraction of the changes rippling through the warships as women prepare to embark.

Separate sleeping quarters and bathrooms are being arranged. The sick bay will get new examining tables and supplies. And the ship's store will be stocking some new items.

Small valve wheels controlling water, steam and oil flows may be replaced with larger ones, to make them easier to turn. And the Navy is testing lighter fire-fighting pumps.

Stocks of life vests, fire-fighting gear, gas masks and emergency breathing devices must be reshaped to reflect the smaller bodies and faces of women. And some urinals will be pulled from bulkheads and replaced with toilets.

The first class of combat ship to usher in women will be the Spruance-class destroyer, which is brimming with Tomahawk missiles and 5-inch guns. Next year, two female officers and 21 female sailors will join the 339-member crew.

Next up: two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, which boast standard missiles and torpedoes. A similar number of women will join the 304-member crew of these ships.

The Navy's most prized vessels - its 1,000-foot aircraft carriers - will begin taking on women in 1995. Three carriers will take on 400 females apiece, including pilots. One additional carrier will be opened to women each year after that.